London Java Community secures two more years on Java steering committee

Twitter and ARM also installed onto board helping to shape the future of the platform.

The annual Java Community Process (JCP) election
results are in, and both Twitter and ARM have emerged victorious,
gaining seats on the all important Java steering committee. The
3000 member strong London Java Community
(LJC) is also celebrating, having secured a further two years
on the executive committee responsible for mapping out future
versions of Java.

JCP members are voted in on either a “ratified” or
“elected” basis. Ratified members tend to be those with a big stake
in Java’s future, for example IBM, Fujitsu, and Hewlett-Packard,
whilst Elected members can be a little more of a mixed bunch. Both
Twitter and ARM are on the JCP as Elected members, Twitter for two
years, and ARM for one.

Twitter’s recent transition from Ruby on Rails to the
veteran platform probably goes a long way to explain why it now
holds a keen interest in the future of Java. In ARM’s case, their
dependence on Java for their CPU designs is a clear driving
factor.

Speaking at the JAX London 2013 event yesterday, LJC
co-organiser and self-titled ‘Diabolical Developer‘
Martijn Verburg told JAXenter that the re-election meant “quite a
lot” to the growing UK group.

He said that it has “validated all the work we have
done with the community in terms of bringing developers back into
the process”, adding that the group was “really excited that the
whole Java ecosystem has seen our work and wants us to continue
that work.”

Not everyone is a fan of the JCP though. It’s been
referred to as a “kind
of a fake zombie body”, and has also been criticised for an
apparent lack of transparency. The JCP has however been working
hard to reinvigorate itself as something that Java users will find
valuable – and folks like the LJC have had an active role in this
process.

Going forward, the LJC is planning to continue this
work for “Java 9, 10, and everything else going forwards.”
Community leaders are also planning to focus strongly on practical
workshops to help Oracle and others decide what can go into new
incarnations of Java and.

Finally, as Martijn says, the LJC will continue to
work with “real developers” to ensure that the people who depend on
Java can give their feedback early, and have a real say in where
Oracle “can take Java next”.